Volleyball champs
The 11-Miller Black Swamp Volleyball Team finished up their 2016 club season with a first place finish in the Gold Division of the Ohio Valley Region Junior Olympic Championships at the Greater Columbus Convention Center April 30. Ella Payne, Leah Shumate, Kaya Capretta, Emma Valentine and Ashley Dyer, all from Galion, participated on the team. There were 62 teams competing in the 11 and under age group. The team beat Elevation-11 Amanda in the finals 25-19, 21-25 and 15-13. The 21-25 set loss was the only set the team dropped all weekend.
“For Junior Olympics this would be like winning a State Championship,” coach Jason Miller said.
Baseball, softball draw sets
The quest for the Ohio High School Athletic Association baseball championship starts on May 7 for Crawford County schools. In the Div. IV Shelby District, No. 5 seed Buckeye Central will host No. 13 seed St. Peters at 11 a.m. May 7, while Crestline, seeded No. 10, will host No. 12 seed Mansfield Christian at the same time. No. 2 and 4 seeds Wynford and Colonel Crawford will host a game at 5 p.m. May 11. Their opponents are yet to be determined.
In the Div. III Madison District, No. 3 seed Galion will host No. 7 seed Margaretta at 5 p.m. May 12. No. 9 seed Bucyrus will host No. 10 seed Willard at 3 p.m. May 7.
In the Div. III Ohio Dominican District, Northmor will travel to Fairbanks at 5 p.m. May 9.
For the softball championship, No. 6 seed Buckeye Central will host No. 8 seed Seneca East at 5 p.m. May 9 in the Div. IV Shelby District. At the same time, No. 5 seed Cresstline will host Western Reserve, seeded 10th.
In the Div. III Lexington District, No. 5 seed Galion will host No. 9 seed Wynford at 5 p.m. May 10. The victor of their game will travel to No. 2 seed Colonel Crawford at 5 p.m. May 13. Bucyrus, seeded seventh, will host No. 8 seed Huron at 5 p.m. May 10.
Northmor Knights fall
Two late runs by Highland boosted them past Northmor on Monday by a 6-4 margin. The Scots led 2-1 after the first inning and by a 4-1 margin entering the bottom of the fourth inning.
However, the host Knights scored one in that frame and two more in the fifth to tie the score before Highland scored once in the sixth and added a run in the seventh to finish on top by two.
Conner Ulrey picked up the win for Highland, striking out seven and giving up eight hits. Lane Ballard finished with four hits, including a double; while Justin Robinson added two singles and Chase Beam cracked a solo home run that gave the Scots the lead for good in the sixth.
For Northmor, Bryan Hammond suffered the loss. He struck out four, walked three and surrendered 10 hits. Both he and Jordan Wiseman hit doubles in the contest.
Highland continued their winning ways in the MOAC with an 11-4 win at home against Centerburg Tuesday. The Scots trailed 1-0 after the first inning, but scored five in the second and one in both the third and fourth frames to take a lead they would not relinquish.
Max Schreiber got the win to improve to 6-0 on the season. He struck out five, walked two and gave up six hits. Offensively, Ballard, Shane Carney and Wyatt Gresh combined for six hits and six RBIs. Ballard had three of those hits, including a two-run double. Ulrey also had a double and single.
Highland then topped East Knox by a 10-3 margin on Friday. The Scots scored three in the first inning and never trailed in the game. A three-run third brought the Bulldogs within a 7-3 margin early in the game, but Highland got one in the fifth and two more in the sixth to pull away for the win.
Ulrey pitched five innings to claim his fifth win of the year, while Mack Anglin finished the contest. Beam had four hits, including a double. Robinson also hit a double early in the game, as he, Beam, Andrew Stillwell, Gresh and Jacob Fox scored runs in the first two innings to stake the Scots to an early 5-0 lead.
Staff reports
